Perspectives
by TheNewIdea
Summary: In which Maugrim and Reepicheep have a conversation dealing with morality, egotism, various degrees of honor and loyalties. Takes place aboard the Dawn Treader, part of an AU that I'm working with. This is an experimental piece, feedback is appreciated but not necessary. Also, on a personal note, I have a bias against Reepicheep.


The Dawn Treader rocked back and forth, back and forth, almost as if it were hypnotizing those aboard into a deep sleep. The cargo hold, in turn, swayed with the ship, the cots swinging left to right in a rhythm, almost as if it were making music without anything in terms of sound.

Lucy's cot, which was closest to the hatch that led to the upper deck, only moved in small increments, hers being on the ground and thus, not able to swing as freely as Reepicheep's, who was diagonal from her above Eustace, just across the way. Edmund, who was a loud snorer by nature, was above her, contently sleeping and dreaming about the days ahead.

"Is he always like that?" a gruff male voice asked in the dark, too tired to have proper manners.

Lucy, who had been kept awake due to Edmund's snoring and the rocking of the ship, nodded and answered him, knowing full well who it was.

"Unfortunately" she exclaimed as she turned towards the foot of her bed, the direction from which the voice came.

Scratching could be heard, it was the kind that a dog would make when it brought its hind legs to the back of the ear.

"Can I please eat him now?" the voice continued hopefully, "He's about to drive me insane."

Lucy laughed a bit, "That's a short drive for you isn't it Maugrim?"

Maugrim huffed, he was insulted, but that didn't mean that he would deny the truth. The wolf stood up as carefully as he could, trying to avoid seasickness as much as possible. He still found himself vomiting a bit, but he didn't really care, in fact, instinct caused Maugrim to eat it. When he finished he slowly turned towards Lucy, one of his eyes, his right eye, was completely white, a side effect of near blindness, his left however was yellow, just as it was when the world was covered in snow.

"I was born insane" Maugrim declared, "At least, that's what my mother called it. My father called it ambition; you can guess who I took after."

Maugrim let out a small sneeze, seconds later Lucy did the same, causing the former to smile and the latter to laugh.

"I guess it's true what they say then" Maugrim continued, "Sneezing is contagious."

Lucy nodded and gently patted on the cot, sitting Indian style to allow Maugrim to sit on the cot. He smiled at the gesture but did not move for it.

"I'll pass thanks" Maugrim said politely, "Don't want wolf hair on those sheet now do we?"

Maugrim could hear ruffling in the far corner of the room, sniffing the air he knew it to be Reepicheep.

"What are you doing up at this time of night?" Maugrim asked curiously as he looked through the darkness, slowly pacing about the room, eventually stopping between the two sets of cots.

"Isn't it obvious" Reepicheep answered, appeared at the far end of the room from underneath a group of barrels, "How can anyone sleep with that racket going on?"

Reepicheep gestured towards Edmund, Maugrim rolled his good eye annoyingly and huffed, personally he thought that the mouse was being over-dramatic, but then again Reepicheep would say similar things about Maugrim in turn, for the wolf was always going on about unlucky his lot was in life.

"Good point" Maugrim declared, "But in all honesty there has to be another reason. Why would you bother getting out of bed if it wasn't for something else? Anyone can learn to drown out noise if it persists long enough rodent; you've been on this ship long enough and spent more than enough time with the boy to surely master that. So therefore it stands to reason that something else drove you to stand where you are. What was it?"

Reepicheep shook his head as he moved towards Maugrim and the center of the room where the most light could now be found as the moonlight shone through the lone window on the back wall to Maugrim's left and Reepicheep's right.

"I've had just about enough of your games Maugrim" Reepicheep began, "I will not have you barging about the place as if you own it. This is Caspian's ship, not yours."

Maugrim raised his eyebrows curiously, confused by Reepicheep's meaning, the rodent's phrasing was off, as if he were hiding his true feelings, masking the real issue and covering it up with a false one.

"I've never done anything like that" Maugrim said defending himself, "What on earth gave you that idea mouse?"

Reepicheep pointed a glaring finger in Maugrim's direction, "Don't play dumb with me" Reepicheep replied threateningly, "I know what you're up to wolf. You're just pretending, admit it. You are an agent of the White Witch-"

Reepicheep drew his sword and daringly pointed it at Maugrim's throat; it was relatively pointless considering that the mouse was nowhere near the wolf to cause anything in the way of damage. The gesture however, was perfectly clear.

"I see you've read your history" Maugrim declared, stretching himself out at the same time, "Yes, it is true I once served the Witch, but that was a long time ago, in another place, in another life. Now, I happily serve The Majesties and do whatever it is that they require of me.'

Reepicheep scowled, not believing a word of it. "Sure sure" he said sarcastically, "You'll win us all over and then when our backs are turned you'll snap our necks!"

Maugrim's fur was beginning to stand on its end. On a personal level Maugrim had enough of Reepicheep and was three seconds from jumping on the mouse and ending his life. Before he could do so much of anything Lucy stepped in.

"Now come on then" Lucy said calmly, "Can't we talk about this?"

Maugrim shook his head, "The time for talking has passed Lucy" he stated, "It seems only violence will end violence. It always has and always will-it is the way of things."

Reepicheep stifled a laugh in response, "The way of things!" he screamed, "Well alright then, if that's the way of things then so be it. We'll go toe to toe, tooth to claw if you'd like. I personally don't really care. The only thing I want is to see justice served."

"You talk about justice as if you know what it is" Maugrim chastised, "You know nothing about the world or the people in it. You're too lost in yourself, blinded by your ego to see what's right in front of you! You talk about grandiose things and use big words without knowing the slightest clue about what they mean. You want to know what justice is. Justice is the difference between what is right and what is wrong and understanding that sometimes things aren't always black and white. Justice is an all encompassing abstract idea that includes all the little grey areas of morality that you voluntarily ignore in favor of simple ideas and simple ways of thinking, the tell-tell signs of ignorance and pride."

Reepicheep rolled his eyes, secretly dismayed that Maugrim was more interested in a battle of words than prowess, but still for the sake of himself he decided to comply.

"And you my canine friend are annoying as hell" Reepicheep retorted, "You're hiding your loyalties, no matter what you say you still cannot change the past. You believe, as all who do, that a good present and a good future automatically make up for a bad past."

Maugrim shrugged and nodded in agreement, "And why not?" he defended, "People can change can't they? Surely you understand that if nothing else."

Reepicheep shook his head, ignoring Maugrim's statement, "And that's another thing" he continued, "How did you even get here? All records show that you died by High King Peter's sword and yet here you are, living and breathing as if nothing happened."

Maugrim growled at this, for that was the one thing that he absolutely hated talking about. Still, at this point to back down would be to submit and to submit would mean a victory for Reepicheep, which was something that he could not have nor accept.

"Who's the only person who can give and take away life?" Maugrim asked rhetorically.

Reepicheep laughed hysterically at this, for not only was the notion completely ridiculous and improbable; it would defy everything that he knew in terms of the world. As far as Reepicheep knew, good things happened to good people and bad things happened to bad people and Maugrim was nowhere near being good.

"You can't be serious" Reepicheep exclaimed, "He brought you here?"

Maugrim nodded, "He did indeed. And through Him I have achieved salvation, a rebirth if you will."

Lucy, who was tired of hearing them argue at this point, laid her head back down on her pillow and attempted to get something in the way of sleep. Maugrim glanced over in her direction and then back at Reepicheep.

"What are we doing mouse?" the wolf asked, "Here we are arguing about nothing when there is a person right next to us who needs our help."

Reepicheep stared at Lucy and then back at Maugrim, almost immediately he forgot about his jealousy, which was the real reason why he was awake. Sheathing his sword, Reepicheep nodded and turned around, heading towards his bed.

"We are a lot alike Reepicheep" Maugrim said as he made his way towards Lucy's head, resigning himself to the role of dog, "We're both searching for something, trying to regain what we lost."

Reepicheep sighed, for Maugrim had no idea what he was talking about, he just wanted to believe that they had something in common so to end the night and possible have it be on good terms.

"I've lost nothing" Reepicheep replied coldly as he climbed into his cot, lying at the same time, "If anything the only thing that we have in common is that we're talking animals. That is it."

Maugrim shook his head pitifully, "Everything that I've ever known is 200 years in the past Reepicheep. Everyone that I've ever cared about is dead. My wife, my son, my brother, Jadis, they're all gone-"

Reepicheep cut him off at this point at the mentioning of Jadis' name, he would not lie if he said that didn't find satisfaction at this statement, the equivalent of a confession of his crimes.

"Ha!" Reepicheep screamed victoriously, "So you do admit it then? I was right about you Maugrim, I knew it."

Maugrim shook his head, amazed that Reepicheep was still holding on to that single piece, the one thing of Maugrim's being that was overtly negative. Reepicheep didn't take in the fact that Maugrim had been a husband, a father, to both his son and his men. He didn't care that Aslan had brought him back, forgetting the idea that He had a reason for everything and Reepicheep didn't care that Maugrim had taken it upon himself to take care of Lucy. In actuality he did, for that was where his jealousy came from, he was just really good at hiding it.

"Keep beating that dead horse Reepicheep" Maugrim said as he jumped on Lucy's cot, half of his body on the cot and half hanging off the side, "I will not deny the past, for it did happen, I accept that. But I will also not deny the present, the here and now, of what could be instead of what was. I embrace them both, because together they make me who I am. The sooner you understand that, the better your future will ultimately be."

Reepicheep grumbled to himself as he resigned himself to sleep. He had no doubt that this conversation would continue the next morning, in fact he would make sure that it did, in front of Caspian and the crew if need be.

Maugrim had not won, not yet, Reepicheep's attitude had seen to that, but still, it was a step in the right direction. As the wolf nestled himself against Lucy, trying to stay as warm as possible, he was reminded of what he once had and as he began to dream he thought about his family, his long dead wife and son and even Jadis, whom he had come to see as a mother, the kind of mother who pushed you to your limits and rarely showed affection in favor of strict discipline, but still a mother nonetheless. As he dreamed, Maugrim couldn't help but smile and as a result he casually scratched his ear with his hind leg once again, causing him to shed wolf hair all over Lucy's sheets. He didn't really care about them at this point and he assumed that Lucy wouldn't either, especially since she offered the cot to begin with. The longer Maugrim slept, the more he fell under the hypnosis of the ship as it continued to sway back and forth, left to right, side to side, it was almost sing-song like, serenading him into the next morning with no idea on what the future would bring.


End file.
